First of all I don't own Love Hina but do own the Umata family

Author's Notes

This is my first post on I have written other stories but they have never made it to the site so be nice.
This is an Alternate Universe story picking up some things from the anime and manga and occasionally other animes and games.
I made Shinobu and Su a little older so I have more choices with a pairing. (Hey I'm the author I can do that and get away with it :p)
And also note that my native tongue is not English so there might be grammatical errors.

Prologue:
Haruka Urashima slowly walked up the steps of the Hinata Sou. When she finally reached the top she stood still and thought over the things to come. She knew the girls weren't going to take the news lightly and one by one she reviewed the girls in her mind:

Naru Narusegawa: A 17 year old prepschool student who is aiming for Toudai, One of her mayor problems is hating all men calling them perverts and beating them up. She's going to blow up the moment she sees him and might not like the results.
Mitsune 'Kitsune' Konno: A 18 year old freelance writer who's drunk most of the day and gambles on just about everything. She's going to try and con him out of his money and he's not going to take it lightly.
Motoko Aoyama: A 15 year old highschool student who is also a skilled kendo fighter. She hates men even more then Naru and is as tempered as Naru. She might challenge him but she'll learn the hard way that he knows how to fight.
Kaolla Su: A 15 year old highschool student from a strange country. She like to blow up stuff and call it playing. Even though she plays rough, she might have troubles with him.
and lastly Shinobu Maehara: A 15 year old highschool student from the same class as Motoko and Su. She's extremely shy and gets easily upset, I wonder how she is going to react to him.

She sighed once and mumbled to herself:
"I sure hope granny knows what she's doing."

She then walked into the house and to the living room and found Shinobu watching television
."Good afternoon Haruka-San"
"Goodmorning Shinobu-Chan, could you get the girls for me, I have some important news for you all."

"It took a few minutes to gather everybody in the living room.
"What's the matter Haruka-san, Shinobu-Chan told us you have some important news for us" as usual Naru had taken control.
"Well, Granny Hina just called and finally found a new manager for the dorm"
"Thats great news when will she come"
"First of all its not a she, its my nephew Keitaro and second I don't know when he will be here. From what I heard he's travelling quite a lot and I don't know where he is."

For a few seconds there was an eerie silence then all hell broke loose;
Naru and Motoko went screaming about not having a perverted man in the dorm,
Kitsune kept asking questions about how he looked and wether he was rich.
Haruka was sure she could see dollar signs in her eyes,
and Su happily went jumping around screaming about a new playmate,
Shinobu was looking around in utter astonishment at all the chaos around her.

"Silence" Haruka suddenly bellowed, wich caused Shinobu to flinch and the others to meekly return to their seats.
"You can ask some questions and I'll try to answer them."
Everybody started to fire questions all at once

Once more Haruka bellowed "Silence"
"You may ask one by one Shinobu you first"
"What's he like Haruka-San?"
"I really don't know I haven't seen him in four years, he used to be a very happy go lucky guy but something happened and he changed"
"What happened?"
"I don't know Granny never talked about it and the last time I saw Keitaro I was afraid to ask him"
"You where afraid?" Motoko asked in shock, to her it seemed Haruka was afraid of nothing.
"Trust me if you saw him like that even your sister would be afraid" Haruka shuddered at remembering how Keitaro looked the last time she saw him.
"So how did he change Haruka-San?" Naru asked a little uncomfortable.
"He became ice-cold, I only saw him for a few minutes. He came to get the Hina blade and then he left. I haven't heard from him ever since."
Haruka then stood up and lighted another cigarette "I know you don't like it but a least meet him before you condemn him. I'll let you know when he arrives." She then left the apartment leaving five bewildered young girls behind.

A couple of hours earlier at a small cemetery close to Kyoto:
Keitaro arrived a the small cemetery around one o'clock in the afternoon and he went straight to a small grave.
There he kneeled and read the inscription like he always did when he came here:

Mariko Umata
6-05-1980 – 23-10-1996
Beloved daughter, sister
granddaughter and friend
May you forever rest in peace

He sat there for hours until a fragile old lady with an ten year old child came walking towards him."Are you okay, young man?"
"..."
"I know you loved her very much but sometimes you need to let go of the past."
He slowly stood up and was ready to scowl at the old woman but then he turned around and he saw who it was he stopped.
He then turned back to the grave and bowed slightly.
After a few seconds he walked towards the old lady and embraced her softly.
He whispered in her ear "Sometimes the past is all someone has Umata Dono"
"Are you ready to honor Mariko's last wish Kei-Kun."
"Not yet" he said as he looked at the small child.
He then smiled at the child before ruffling her hair then he put on his emotionless mask again and slowly began walking away leaving a sad old woman standing with the child
"Bye onii-san" the girl screamed after him.
But he did not turn and walked towards his bike
"I have to succeed or else I can't keep my promises with Mariko"

He got on his bike and glanced towards the graveyard for the last time.
Not bothering to put his helmet on he sped off towards the small town of Hinata and therefore changing his life completely.

A/N sorry about the name Yumiko. It should have been Mariko